It’s fascinating to watch and listen to each head of state stand at the podium and tell the rest of the assembly about their country, their perspective on world events, and make their plea to the United Nations for whatever is of the utmost importance to their people and culture. It is clearly apparent after only a short time of viewing, that the people in the hall are doing some of the most important work in the world, for they are together creating humanity’s future.

This year’s high-level meeting is unusual in that the United Nations lost the support of the United States, due to the current presidential administration’s political stance. For complicated reasons, the current administration has withdrawn support, including financial, for a majority of UN programs. Speaker after speaker has spoken of the “alarming trend towards unilateralism” and an unwillingness to work collaboratively, pointing towards the United States’ position.

It is alarming, to put it mildly, that the president of the United States came to the UN’s highest level meeting this year, and stated that, according to him, the United States isn’t interested in the rest of the world, that it’s all about him and his agenda for what he thinks is in the best interests of patriotism. Truthfully, I had to turn off his speech after not even thirty seconds of listening, the stuff coming out of his mouth once again souring my stomach to the point of nausea.

But here’s the glorious thing: The United Nations is a GLOBAL platform that offers all member states the great opportunity to be heard by the rest of the world’s members during these meetings. Each autumn, for one week, heads of state, diplomats, and thousands of support team members come together to appeal to one another, engage in dialogue, and work to hammer out a path forward for the year ahead. The challenges are massive.As I listened, I heard the whole gamut of humanity’s problems, from the smallest island states who are concerned about the oceans and fishing (as it is their main livelihood and resource), to the biggest and most industrialized nations who are concerned with cyber crimes and ecological destruction. Heartbreaking stories were told by the leaders of Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen. Speeches full of fury and self-determination were given by the heads of the Ukraine and Venezuela. Diplomatic and extremely eloquent speeches were offered by the presidents of Bolivia and Ecuador. Compassionate and passionate appeals were given by several African states. And, some leaders, such as Theresa May of Great Britain, were mostly concerned with free trade and essentially holding on to power and privilege.

Many global leaders showed solidarity with Palestine, and called for legal and permanent recognition of a two-state solution to the fifty-year crisis in Gaza. Leaders appealed for allowing sanctions to be lifted against Cuba, yet again. Dozens of leaders exhibited great compassion towards the millions of refugees and the human migration crises occurring around the world, calling for all members of the United Nations to do more than simply offer rhetoric, and to move into more and greater concrete action.

In this age of fake news and alternative facts, with corporate media showing extremely selective and highly biased news stories to the citizens of the United States, it is really gratifying to be able to hear directly from the world’s leaders about what is happening in their home countries. It is sobering, absolutely, and also exhausting, but exceedingly important for Americans to have the opportunity to watch these important meetings and draw our own conclusions from them.